Naming conventions in art history (and history in general) are complicated and often irksome because of these "of place name" names, particularly because sometimes families did eventually adopt these names as proper surnames (Rogier van der Weyden [Rogier de la Pasture in French] and Jan van Eyck come to mind). Other commonly known names are nicknames: Botticelli, for instance, means little barrel; his actual name was Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi; Masaccio (Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone) means big ugly Tom, to distinguish him from his colleague Masolino (Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini), or little Tom. Other names are completely spurious (there was no artist named Matthias Grünewald, for instance, and his real name is debated), while others are pseudonyms, like Hieronymus Bosch, whose real name was Jeroen Anthoniszoon van Aken.

Edit: Some of these same concepts add to the problems of alphabetical ordering. Please file Rogier van der Weyden under W, not V, Vincent van Gogh under G, Leonardo under L, and Domenico Veneziano (Domenico the Venetian) under D.

For mathematicians, there is also Leonardo of Pisa, a.k.a. Fibonacci, which means handsome son or fortunate son.

Another Italian mathematician known to posterity by his nickname is Tartaglia, which means stammerer. He was stabbed through the face when he was twelve and left for dead, but his mother nursed him back to health. The damage to his tongue and palette meant he never spoke properly for the rest of his life, and his always helpful friends gave him his handy nickname.

Yes, but... by the time the great baroque composer "of Ulm" came along, the hereditary surname would have been firmly established in the culture. Although plain-old "Ulm" would probably be simpler... as in "Beethoven"? But what then of the great post-impressionist, Gogh?

Enjoyable post possibly exposing yet another reason history is damn near impossible to write or percieve correctly. Language and its rules are as reliable as carrying water with a fork albeit much more entertainig.

I'm with you on the alphabetization/capiltalization thing. It's very hard these days to look up some of those names, because you generally have to check the Right Way (by the first capitalized letter of the last name) first, and then failing that, the Wrong Way (by the prepositions) in case the alphabetizer didn't know the rule.

It seems slightly pedantic to insist upon "Leonardo" over "da Vinci" since both names seem to have achieved as level of acceptance and recognition in English - but I will concede the point only if there is another equally famous individual who also sprang from Vinci - making the 'da Vinci' ambiguous - I doubt there is one.

STUDENT: What was Erasmus's first name?TEACH: No one knows his first name.ME: Actually, his first name was DesideriusTEACH: Oh, maybe, but-ME: And his full name included Roterodamus as he was from Rotterdam.TEACH:Okay. There you are.